If not for the extreme wit of Benjamin Franklin, William Penn's "Fruits of Solitude" would certainly be a classic. The founder of Pennsylvania compiled the book in 1682, just as he was in the midst of his "holy experiment" in Philadelphia. Some of Penn's maxims were "the result of serious reflection; others the flashings of lucid intervals; written for private satisfaction." All were intended as "help for human conduct."
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Pennsbury
Pennsbury Manor in Bucks County is the reconstructed country home of Pennsylvania founder William Penn. As a young man, Penn embraced the austerity of Quakerism. But his country estate reflected the tension between Penn's religious ideals and his upper-class tastes, as WHYY's Joel Rose reports. [Listen]